Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Service To Children

The Ever Flowing Stream article below is about a ministry that is dear to my heart and has been endorsed by our recent General Convention as a mission priority of the Episcopal Church. CIS is not yet statewide, and some of our churches partner with schools in other ways. CIS is expanding. This is the largest such partnership opportunity and the one that offers us the best way into giving children a chance in life.

An Everflowing Stream Amos 5:24

EC 2/05 Confirms care for the needs of children as a priority of the Church and urges the President and Congress to make funding for children’s care a priority

Communities in Schools

Communities in Schools is a non-profit organization that provides support to children of all ages by ensuring that they are successful in school, are safe, healthy and able to learn. By empowering students to stay in school and achieve their highest potential, Communities in Schools of Nevada is preparing children not just to survive, but to thrive.

As the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, CIS brings caring adults into schools to address the children’s unmet needs. The result is that teachers are free to teach, and students—many in jeopardy of dropping out—have the opportunity to focus on learning. And when a child can successfully learn, he or she can stay in school, prepare for college, for a career, and ultimately for a better life.

Communities in Schools of Nevada has identified the many different reasons for a child to be unsuccessful in school and has implemented programs to service each of those needs. Homelessness, hunger and health are big issues in many schools. CIS created a program that sends home backpacks filled with food for the child and their family so that having a nutritious meal is one last thing to worry about and the kids can focus on school. CIS has also built two health clinics on school grounds that are open to any child in the Clark County School District, absolutely free of cost. Now parents don’t have to worry about how they are going to afford healthcare, and children who were distracted in school because they were sick, or couldn’t see the blackboard, or had a toothache, are now relieved of that pressure and are free to learn.

Communities in Schools of Nevada also offers a mentoring program called the Fellows Academy in the middle and high schools. CIS, along with school administrators, identifies as-risk youth who may be on the path to dropping out or just not doing well in school, and empowers them to learn so that they are empowered to achieve throughout life.

Children who are hungry or homeless or at-risk in some way have certainly never had the opportunity to experience something as amazing as a week at Camp Galilee. It is our hope that the $16,000 needed to fund the camp can be raised so that these children can participate in this wonderful experience.

Please help CIS reach their goal of ensuring that children in Nevada are given every opportunity so that their first focus can be school and reaching their fullest potential in life. There will be more information at the Diocesan Convention, where CIS Nevada State Director, Louise Helton, will be speaking.

(This article was written by Abby Wagner, Marketing Director for Communities in Schools of Nevada, 702-770-7611. For information about the Nevada Social Concerns Network contact millsr007@aol .com)